It's about time I got a new laptop, and given my line of work it's surprising I waited this long. Choosing the right machine can be a hit and miss affair and as Rodney recently pointed out when reviewing his own laptop, sometimes it can be a huge disappointment.

So it's helpful to know a bit about computer components when it comes to customising a new laptop. And when I built mine I made sure I got what I wanted - a nice balance between portability and performance.

The DreamBook Style M761TU from Pioneer Computers is no slouch. Here's what I got them to put into it.

CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz T6400 64 bit 2M Cache 800Mhz 45mm
Display	15.4" Widescreen WXGA (1280x800) TFT Crystal Bright Screen
Graphics	: nVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS 256M PCI-E
Memory	4GB (2 x 2GB) 800MHz DDR2
Hard Drive	2.5" 250GB 7,200RPM Serial-ATA
Optical Drive	8x DVD-/+RW Dual Layer Drive
Integrated option	802.11B/G Wirless module
Integrated option	Built-in Bluetooth module
	Built-in 2 MegaPixel built in web camera
	Built-in Finger Print Reader
	Built-in microphone
Extra	2 year pick-up/retrun to base warranty
	Deluxe notebook backpack
Input/output	HDMI output
	VGA monitor output
	4-in-1 Card Reader, SD/MMC/MS/MS Pro
	3 x USB2 ports
	10/100 network
	Dialup modem

Pretty nice specs for 1600 clams. One of the reasons for the nice price is because Pioneer Computers will let you buy a laptop without an operating system, so you save a bunch of money there already. This, combined with my previous positive experiences with Pioneer Computers made it a no-brainer to go with them again. For the record I did shop it around, and even Dell could not come close to matching this price for the same specs.

This means if you've got a copy of Windows or Linux lying around you can install it. Or alternatively as I did download and install Windows 7 (it's free until March 2010).

Getting this laptop was always about giving me the opportunity to accomplish stuff on my train ride to and from work, which makes up for 2 hours of every week day. In fact now nearly all of the articles I write for Rusty Lime and my other blog are done during that train ride, as is a large portion of the actual web site development work. It's made me very productive because truthfully I don't get the chance to at home as often as I used to.

Performance

It's not too bad for gaming although it will never match my desktop for that, but being the geek I am I of course had to run a few benchmarks. Running a current generation game (Chronicles of Riddick - Dark Athena) I was surprised it ran as well as it did, being very playable with medium - high settings.

So how does it stack up against, say, a desktop machine? That's probably the only comparison I can provide given I don't have companies sending me laptops to benchmark every day. I've ran the mighty Performance Test to show you how the laptop compares to my desktop AMD Athlon 3ghz dual core machine.

Test Name	My PC	My Laptop
CPU - Integer Math	185.56	187.85
CPU - Floating Point Math	1062.25	711.10
CPU - Find Prime Numbers	317.37	542.81
CPU - SSE/3DNow!	3962.85	4510.83
CPU - Compression	4914.40	4302.26
CPU - Encryption	39.25	27.50
CPU - Image Rotation	848.19	906.99
CPU - String Sorting	3132.35	1976.40
Graphics 2D - Lines	55.20	16.78
Graphics 2D - Rectangles	65.73	43.34
Graphics 2D - Shapes	29.55	23.03
Graphics 2D - Fonts and Text	199.77	151.71
Graphics 2D - GUI	174.59	135.52
Graphics 3D - Simple	1975.36	509.35
Graphics 3D - Medium	437.81	131.86
Graphics 3D - Complex	42.91	38.75
Memory - Allocate Small Block	2382.44	1757.70
Memory - Read Cached	1466.54	1516.38
Memory - Read Uncached	1322.33	1457.03
Memory - Write	1219.94	1420.04
Memory - Large RAM	897.75	718.49
Disk - Sequential Read	57.39	62.68
Disk - Sequential Write	69.10	48.52
Disk - Random Seek + RW	2.90	4.77
CD - Read	2.80	4.68
CPU Mark	1204.58	1214.07
2D Graphics Mark	344.59	229.39
Memory Mark	538.88	507.88
Disk Mark	467.98	419.40
CD Mark	342.29	573.56
3D Graphics Mark	786.02	217.61
PassMark Rating	689.20	612.95

As you can see the laptop wins on many occasions by loses in the end, mainly due to the huge difference in the 3D graphics tests.

Running Windows 7

Ironically, the one word that comes to mind is the same word used during Vista's marketing campaign: Wow. Except on Vista, despite it's positives, didn't wow anyone.

Windows 7 runs like a dream. It's fast, responsive, reliable and everything Vista should have been. Win7 does have a lower minimum system requirement than Vista so it's no surprise it runs better than it's predecessors. One guy even managed to put install it on a Pentium II. If you're thinking of putting Windows 7 on your laptop, you have my recommendation.

Battery Life

As I opted for a 6 cell battery, I can only squeeze a couple of hours at best from the laptop during heavy use. That's with all the power saving options enabled as well. Though for my purposes that's more than enough battery life. If you're on the road all the time you'd do well to invest in a 9 or 12 cell battery.

Ergonomics

In hindsight I wish I had gotten a 12 inch model instead of a 15.4 inch. As mentioned earlier portability was one of my primary goals, and I think 3 inches less would make a difference when coding on the train, as far as balancing it on your lap and not intruding onto the other passengers personal space is concerned.

Using the laptop otherwise is fine, but the finger print reader is in an unusual location, making it awkward to move your hand into position to scan a finger. If anywhere, it should have been in the upper right or left area.

The form factor is nice although nothing to write home about, and I've no complaints about the weight.

Sounds

The speakers are as good as you can expect any regular laptop to be and they're no substitute for a real set of speakers. The unit itself is as quiet as a mouse even when the CPU is under load and the fan is blowing it's hardest.

Support

Here's where things a little ugly. The unit arrived with a dead pixel which turned into a few dead pixels. Trying to get any feedback from technical support or sales regarding where I stand with a warranty claim has been problematic. Pioneer Computers have not returned my calls or responded to my email, which makes me think they're not interested in their legal obligation to honour my warranty. I even purchased an extended warranty just in case. I've been pretty patient after more than 4 weeks trying to get a response, and hopefully the email I sent today (to every email address I could find on their web site) will reach the right people.

This is quite a contrast to the positive customer experiences I've had with them over the years.

I will post an update as soon as I hear back.

Update: My warrantly claim has been approved (after initially being rejected). See my comment.